Muhammad Salah – Peace Respect & Unity – Light Upon Light Zanzibar
AI: Summary ©
The success of Islam is measured by achieving success through praying and showing faith in achieving it. The importance of weight and continuous prayer is emphasized, along with the importance of dropping everything in one's hand to answer the call of Allah. It is important to drop everything in one's hand to answer the call of Allah and show the importance of recognizing success through drop downs.
AI: Summary ©
As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Al-ḥamdu liLlāhi rabbil-ʿālamīn wa-l-ʿāqibatu
lil-muttaqīn wa-lā ʿudwāna illā ʿalā al
-ḍālimīn wa-s-salātu wa-s-salāmu al
-ʾatammāni l-ākmalāni l-ajmalāni l-azharāni ʿalā
sayyidi l-awwalīna wa-l-ākhirīn Sayyidinā Muḥammadin
wa-ālihī wa-s-ṣaḥbi wa-t-tābi
'īn Honorable people of Zanzibar, my colleagues,
Mr. President Dr. Hussain bin Ali bin Hassan,
May Allah bless you all.
What comes to my mind first when I
walked into the stadium is one ḥadīth to
share a glad tiding with all of you,
especially with Mr. President and his cabinet.
You know that in the sound ḥadīth, Rasūlu
Llāh ﷺ said, إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُعْتِى الدُّنْيَا لِمَنْ
أَحَبُّ وَلِمَنْ لَمْ يُحِبُّ وَلَا يُعْتِى الدِّينَ إِلَّا
لِمَنْ أَحَبُّ Indeed, Allah grants success in this
life and worldly achievements to everyone whether He
likes them or abhors them.
It doesn't matter.
He grants success and achievements in this dunyā
for the believers as well as the disbelievers.
But He only grants the love of the
Deen to those whom He loves.
To see this amazing gathering led by the
President and his cabinet and all those beautiful
people taking several hours of their precious time
to celebrate the praises of the Almighty Allah,
to share the guidance of His most beloved
messenger ﷺ.
Wallahi, billahi, tallahi is a sign that Allah
loves you.
So congratulations.
Barakallahu feekum.
May Allah bless this gathering.
You know brothers and sisters, any success that
may be achieved in this life, if it
doesn't contribute towards achieving the ultimate success which
is receiving salvation on the Day of Judgment
and making it safely to heaven is definitely
undermined.
The Almighty Allah says in verse number 185,
chapter number 3, after I seek refuge with
Allah from the accursed Satan, Every soul will
taste death.
And you will only be paid your dues
on the Day of Resurrection.
Every soul shall taste death.
A few years from now, all of us
will be replaced with another generation to succeed
us.
And so on until the end of this
life.
Then the Almighty says, and it is only
on the Day of Resurrection, this is when
you shall receive your compensation on full.
And the outcome is as follows.
Those who will be drawn away from hellfire
and make it safely to heaven are the
truly successful ones.
May Allah make us among them.
And the life of this world, all its
enjoyment, all its successes are simply the enjoyment
of delusion.
It is a matter of test and trial.
And the ultimate success is once you set
your foot in heaven.
Al-Hasan, may Allah be pleased with him,
was asked, Life is full of tribulations and
trials.
When do we start experiencing comfort?
He said, once you set your right foot
in heaven.
Once you enter jannah, this is when you
can say, this is the raha.
This is the comfort.
This is the true enjoyment.
Before that and other than that, it's a
matter of test and trials.
Every time in the Quran, the Almighty mentions
the word falah.
Or success.
Unfortunately, most of people including Muslims assume that
the Almighty is talking about achieving success only
in the hereafter.
Only to enter jannah.
But this is not the case.
Quran is full of verses discussing success.
Every time the Almighty mentions falah in the
Quran, it talks about achieving falah and success
in both lives.
In this life before the hereafter.
Those who achieve success through the obedience of
the Almighty Allah, are successful in both lives.
In the sound hadith, our most beloved ﷺ
used to walk in the market places and
call upon people saying, O
people, say la
ilaha illallah, you will be successful.
I want to hear the kalima from all
of us.
La ilaha illallah.
But guess what?
Actions speak louder than words.
It's not just a word.
The messenger of Allah ﷺ when he said
to his companions and to the non-believers
as well, if you say la ilaha illallah,
you achieve success, they all understood what it
meant.
Abu Jahl and the Meccan chieftains, when they
persuaded the Prophet ﷺ with many worldly temptations
in order to make him quit his dawah,
he said, all what I want from you
is just one word.
One word.
If you say it, you will become the
chieftains not of Mecca only, not of the
peninsula only, but of the whole world.
Abu Jahl said, just one word will give
you ten if that will make you happy.
He said, then just say la ilaha illallah.
He said, any word but this word.
Because it's a word that comes with a
package of commitments, of do's and do not
do's.
The Almighty says in verse number 8, chapter
number 7, surah al-a'raf, وَالْوَزْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ
الْحَقِّ The weighing of the deeds on the
Day of Judgment is the truth.
فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ Those whose
good deeds will be heavy in the scale
of weighing the deeds on the Day of
Judgment, such are the truly successful ones.
So it is not simply saying la ilaha
illallah and not acting upon it, which will
secure you a place in heaven or avert
you from hellfire.
No.
That's why I want you to imagine with
me and look into some of the verses
in which the Almighty Allah is guiding us
to how to achieve success.
In the beginning of surah al-mu'minoon, the
Almighty called upon us to achieve success through
fulfilling certain characteristics.
Six of them.
He said, قَدِ أَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ Successful indeed are
the believers.
Not just for saying we believe.
For those of you who have memorized the
Quran and there are hundreds if not thousands
of them are sitting here right now.
I challenge you to find a single verse
in the entire Quran from cover to cover,
from al-Fatiha to an-Nas, where the
Almighty promises His servants that you will enter
heaven and you will achieve success if you
just believe.
There is no such thing.
Rather it is always iman accompanied with actions.
قَالَ تَعَالَى وَالْعَصْرِ إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ What
is the opposite of success?
Sisters there, what is the opposite of success?
I hear you.
Loss, isn't it?
Guess what?
The Almighty says, I swear to time, وَالْعَصْرِ
All people, all mankind are in loss.
All people are losers by nature except الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ Those who believed and did
good righteous deeds.
Those who recognize the truth so they enjoin
one another to it and they enjoin one
another to patience.
In surah al-kahf, multiple verses.
One of them, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ
كَانَتْ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتُ الْفِرْدَوْسِ نُوزُولًا خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا لَا
يَبَغُونَ عَنْهَا حِيْوَلًا Always you will find, indeed,
those who believed and did good righteous deeds,
for them the gardens of paradise will be
their final abode.
May Allah make us among them.
Can you imagine our acts of worship will
secure us success, not only in the hereafter,
not only to enter Jannah, but in our
business, in our relationship with our spouses, in
our relationship with our children, not only in
our relationship with our Creator, but in our
relationship with the rest of the creation.
قَدْ يَأَفْلَحَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ قَدْ in Arabic تُفِيدُ التَّحْكِيرُ
Most certainly the believers are successful.
Why?
Number one of the six traits, الَّذِينَ هُمْ
فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ Not only because they pray,
we all pray.
But do we, after we finish the prayer,
we get the same reward?
No.
Some of us will get out of his
prayer or her prayer one-tenth, or one
-sixth, or one-fifth, or one-third, and
some will get nothing out of their prayers.
What simply means that prayers were just simply
some sort of jumping jacks, exercise, physical exercise.
You will never find the Almighty saying to
the believers, you should pray.
The Quran always speaks about اِقَامَةُ الصَّلَاةُ اَقِيمُوا
الصَّلَاةُ establish the prayers.
That's why in the adhan, the Almighty calls
upon us saying, حَيَّ عَلَى الصَّلَاةِ Come to
pray.
Why?
حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ Come to success.
We repeat after the mu'adhin when he
says, الله أكبر الله أكبر أشهد أن لا
إله إلا الله أشهد أن محمد رسول الله
We repeat the same.
But when he says, حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ We
don't say, حَيَّ عَلَى الْفَلَاحِ Why don't we?
Allah is calling upon us to come to
pray to achieve success.
So we say, لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا
بِاللَّهِ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ What does it mean?
We need to think about it.
We need to ponder over every supplication that
we recite in order to be meaningful, in
order to benefit out of whom.
It simply means, there is no changing from
one condition to another except by the leave
of Allah, by the will and the power
of the Almighty.
What does it mean?
It means, if you make wudu, you answer
the call to the prayer, and you go
to pray, even if you are the president,
or the king, or the richest man in
the world, you abandon everything, you drop everything
in your hand to answer the call of
the Almighty, Wallahi you achieve success because He
invited you.
Because He wanted you to achieve success.
And if you don't, then you're a loser.
No matter what, if you are on the
Forbes list, if you're number one, not number
ten.
And Allah says, come to success and you
show no interest, Wallahi you're not successful.
Number one of the six traits of the
successful believers, الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ And
this kind of khushu'a, serenity, tranquility, focus
and concentration, isn't one time deal.
And it is not purchased anyway.
It's a matter of mujahada, of struggle with
every single prayer.
Imagine when you're a really busy person, you
drop everything in your hand to say Allahu
Akbar, meaning Allah is the greatest, greater than
your business, greater than your kingdom, greater than
your empire.
You stand before Him as a humble servant
in order to gain honor, dignity and success.
Last verse of surah Al-Ankabut, the Almighty
Allah says, وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِي نَا لَنَهْدِيَنَّهُمْ سُبُلَنَا
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ Those who strive for
Allah's sake, Allah promises to guide them to
His straight path.
And Allah is always with the good doers.
A ruler who is just and trying to
maintain justice, and it cost him and his
nation a lot, Allah is with him.
Allah will support them.
Allah will grant them success.
A person who is addicted, whether to drugs,
or to watching what is forbidden, or to
drinking, or to whatever kind of bad deed,
and he is struggling to quit, and to
repent, and he relapses, and he goes back
and forth, but he is sincere in his
attempts to repent, Allah says He is with
him.
Allah shall guide him to the straight path.
It's an honor to keep trying.
This companion came to the Prophet ﷺ, said,
Ya Rasulallah, shaitan is driving me crazy.
Every time I pray, he disturbs me in
my prayer.
I keep thinking about a lot of things.
He said, that's a shaitan named Khanzab.
So whenever he whispers to you in the
prayer, turn to your left, blow twice like
this, and say, أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
He will disappear.
It's not only once or twice.
It's a lifetime challenge.
It's striving for life.
Salah guarantees the ultimate success in both lives.
Yes, indeed.
In your business, in your presidency, in your
work as a government official, as a seeker
of knowledge, as a businessman.
In every field, you drop everything, and you
say, Allah is greater than my business.
Then follows that five more traits and characteristics,
such as refraining yourself from vain talk, being
charitable and generous for Allah's sake, guarding your
chastity and avoiding anything that may lead to
haram, keeping your trust and your promises for
the sake of Allah.
And what is the sixth characteristic of the
successful ones?
وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَلَى صَلَوَاتِهِمْ يُحَافِظُونَ By the end,
also the Almighty emphasizes the importance of dropping
everything in your hand to answer the call
of Allah, which is the call to success,
to the ultimate success.
Do you know why?
Mr. Important.
Do you know why?
If you're really important person, because the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in the sound
hadith, أَوَّلُ مَا يُحَاسَبُ عَلَيْهِ الْعَبْدُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ
الصَّلَاةِ If you're a Muslim, then as the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam have died, we
soon will die, then we'll be resurrected.
Resurrected, then the first question Allah will ask
us about is the prayers.
فَإِن صَلَحَ سَائِرُ عَمَلِهِ If your prayers were
done perfectly and on time, the way that
pleases the Almighty Allah, then the rest of
your good deeds, the rest of your acts
will be accepted and will be upright.
And if otherwise, God forbid, وَإِن فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ
سَائِرُ عَمَلِهِ No matter how busy you are,
no matter how important you may be, when
you hear your Creator asking you to come
to achieve success, Wallahi you should drop it.
Number one answer in the call of Allah
and answer in the call of Allah with
the proper khushu' الَّذِينَ هُمْ فِي صَلَاتِهِمْ خَاشِعُونَ
Each and every one of us right now
is carrying a smartphone.
The batteries on our smartphones run out fast,
especially if you're online.
And that's why you make sure you have
a power bank.
Or you carry a charger with you.
Why?
You need to charge the battery.
This heart is like the battery.
We need to keep recharging the battery in
order to function, in order to sustain ourselves.
The battery of our heart needs juice of
iman.
That can be only achieved through answering the
call to success on regular basis.
In addition to, Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
said, in the hadith of Umm Habibah, radhiallahu
anha and others, that whoever observes 12 units
on daily basis, he's referring to the emphatic
sunan.
The Almighty Himself will build for him a
house in paradise.
Not in Beverly Hills.
Not in Florida.
Not in Tampa.
In Beverly Hills.
So what?
Soon I will die and I will leave
it.
But Allah will build you a house in
paradise if you pray the following rakahs before
and after the prayers.
4 units before dhuhr.
2 after dhuhr.
2 after maghrib.
2 after isha.
And 2 before fajr.
On daily basis.
If you offer those 12 rakahs on daily
basis, the Almighty promises, He will build you
a house in paradise.
Wallahi, I love my house.
It's such a beautiful house.
But unfortunately I cannot take it with me.
I cannot take nothing with me.
We visited many presidents, prime ministers' houses, and
rich people's houses and mansions.
Amazing.
But we all know that the moment we
drop dead, we take nothing with us.
But the moment that we have offered what
Allah has instructed us to do, we take
everything and even better with us.
A better house will be built for you
in heaven by Allah for just observing the
nawafil, the emphatic sunan.
And more, and more, and more.
Among the greatest means of achieving success, brothers
and sisters, any good deed you do, last
verse of surah al-hajj, the Almighty Allah
says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا۟ You know what
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud said?
Whenever you hear Allah saying, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا۟ O who you believe, فَأَرْعِهِ سَمْعَكَ Do
you consider yourselves believers?
Do you?
Of course.
So when Allah is calling upon the believers,
I'm an attentive audience.
Yes, O Allah.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا۟ اِرْكَعُوا۟ وَاسْجُدُوا۟ وَاعْبُدُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ
وَافْعَلُوا۟ الْخَيْرَةَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ O who you believe,
bow down, prostrate yourselves, worship your Lord, and
do what is good in order to be
successful.
These are the means of success.
You know brother Wael was talking about how
human beings are inclined into sinning by nature.
This is in the Qur'an.
He said, the Prophet said, All the children
of Adam are sinners.
Myself, Mufti Ming, Wael Ibrahim, all the speakers,
the reciters of the Qur'an.
It's a human nature.
قال تعالى in surah Yusuf, إِنَّ النَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌ
بِالسُّوءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّي إِنَّ رَبِّي غَفُورٌ
رَحِيمٌ Indeed, oneself is naturally inclined into sinning.
Except for those whom my Lord have mercy
upon.
May Allah make us among them.
That's why Allah has made tawbah from sins
a great means to achieve success.
Surah An-Nur, chapter number 24, verse number
31.
The Almighty Allah calls upon all of us
saying, وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ
تُفْلِحُونَ O who you believe, all of you
without exception, even the Prophet ﷺ was commanded
to make tawbah in order to be successful.
Finally, last verse before we write the note.
Last verse of Surah Al-Imran, verse number
200, chapter number 3.
The Almighty Allah says, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
إِصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
Soon, inshallah, we will meet him.
But in what condition?
This what really matters.
That's why we need to be patient, to
observe and endure patiently, guard our stations and
maintain our steadfastness on the straight path in
order to be successful.
May the Almighty grant us all success.
May He keep us all steadfast on His
straight path.
May Allah pardon us and forgive us all
our sins.
May Allah preserve this country, maintain its peace
and unity, maintain its prosperity.
May Allah make us among the dwellers of
heaven.
اللهم أمين وصلى الله على سيد الأولين والآخرين
سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين From the
bottom of my heart, thank you all for
attending.
وجزاكم الله خيرا May Allah
bless you.